Almond Rhubarb Muffins

Something weird happened with blogger.

I posted this recipe yesterday, but it got put back to draft status. 

Lame.

I struggled to find a rhubarb recipe that didn't involve strawberries. I didn't have any strawberries and didn't want to go out and buy them for any ridiculously involved pie. What I did have were some nice stalks of rhubarb from my spring CSA and no clue of what to do with them.

That predicament was cured with a simple Google search and a few substitutions. I successfully veganized and healthified an almond rhubarb muffin recipe that I found and made some freaking tasty muffins!

Rhubarb Almond Muffins

makes 16 regular sized muffins (though I have no idea why the recipe would be for 16 muffins, I used one regular muffin tin and half of a mini muffin tin)

prep time: 10 minutes

bake time: 15-18 minutes

ingredients

• 2/3 pounds rhubarb, tops removed and ends trimmed
• 2 ½ cups unsifted whole wheat flour
• ¾ cups chopped almonds
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoons ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoons salt
• ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ¼ cup turbinado sugar
• 1 ¼ cups water
• ½ cups applesauce
• 1 chia egg (1tbsp chia seeds + 3 tbsp water, mix and let sit)
• 1 tablespoons vanilla extract
• ½ cups dates, chopped

directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly coat sixteen 2 1/2-inch muffin-pan cups with cooking spray. Wash rhubarb stalks; coarsely chop and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, almonds, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and cinnamon.
3. In a medium bowl, mix sugar, water, applesauce, chia egg, and vanilla until combined. Stir into flour mixture just until moistened; the batter will be lumpy. Fold rhubarb and dates into batter. Spoon batter into muffin cups.
4. Bake muffins until a knife inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean -- 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool in pans 5 minutes. Transfer muffins to a wire rack and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to three days.

Peace, Love & Bagels,

Marathon Monday: Training Week #18

ONE WEEK TO GO.


I wasn't nervous until I just wrote that. As I mentioned in my post on Friday, last week was a very off week. The only run we actually did was a 6.5 miler on Saturday (which, by the way, was beautiful and warm...I had to take off the black long sleeved shirt that I wore). This week is a whole new story, I plan to be very intentional about my training and eating and drinking and just really get ready for the race on Sunday.

Running schedule is shifting around a bit this week because of a work trip to Denver tomorrow and Wednesday, but it's all easy fun runs and [god willing] wonderful weather.

Here's the schedule:

I'm hoping for as much lunchtime/airport yoga as humanly possible as well. Today, I was lucky enough to get outside and enjoy the weather and practice a few huge hip opening poses... 

Pigeon pose

and frog pose

and now, it's back to work so I can go home and enjoy a nice easy run and grilled black bean burgers for dinner. Good luck to everyone who's running the race this weekend! I'll see ya out there!

Peace, Love & Beautiful Weather,

The Friday Five

First off, check out my guest post over at my favorite blog for all things Cleveland, the wonderful Poise in Parma. Thanks for the opportunity to "stop by" Alicia! I wish you the best this Month and I can't wait for our carb fest on the 14th!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sorry guys, it's been an off week for me. I've hit the proverbial wall in just about all aspects of my life; work, blogging, cooking and running. It became an unsuspectingly busy week and I didn't run when I could have and I couldn't run when I was planning to. We were only supposed to do a couple of shorter runs, but I still can't get that sinking feeling out of my stomach that is plaguing me with self-doubt.

Am I ready for this marathon? Did I do enough?


Brandon reminded me this morning that we should be well rested and ready to run 26.2 miles next Sunday and that skipping a couple of taper-training runs is probably good for us. I did manage to get in a few good yoga sessions this week (one was even outside..in the sun!) So, I should be focusing on those positive things instead.

Let's talk about the fun links I thoroughly enjoyed this week...

I got a good freaking laugh out of some of these incredibly creative photos.  (photo credit: http://owni.eu)

Jen's post "25 things I know to be true" is really refreshing. It reminds me of my yearly bucket list, which had 25 things on it this year and will have 26 things on in October (since I'll be 26). Hmm, maybe I'll do a post about which items I've crossed off so far? (photo credit: Eat, Live, Run)

Somday, I want to make the jump from marathons to triathlons and I think, like just about every other runner out there that wants to "tri a tri", swimming is the most intimidating part. This post will be a great guide for me when I do take the plunge. (photo credit: No Meat Athlete)

I may have posted this song before, but Fireside Symphony is back in the studio!! This is on of my favorite songs to date, and Brandon currently working on a recorded version of it.  P.S. He's wearing my sweatshirt in this video.

Why Clevland? I'm taking this awesome month-long challenge to come up with 31 reasons (for the 31 days in May) to answer the question WhyCLE? Mom and Dad, maybe you'll finally be able to understand why I moved out here. (photo credit: Why CLE)

Alright, I have sufficiently quelled my worries about the marathon with some music, pictoral comic relief, and a good challenge. Have a wonderful (and hopefully dry) weekend!!!

Peace, Love & Bagels,

why I run

 photo credit: akronmarathon.org

Kali wrote an incredibly inspiring and courageous post about why she runs the other day. I say inspiring, because it inspire me to write this post. Courageous, because she down and out, put it all out there. She is amazing! If you have a second, please read her post.

My answer to the question "why do I run?" isn't quite as motivating or inspirational as Kali's, but I think it's just as heartfelt. I've talked about it before, about running as therapy, but I want to go into it a little more deeply. There's definitely a story behind why I started running, what it did for me then, and what it continues to do for me.

Thanks, Kali, for giving me the inspiration I needed to write this post!

I remember the first few times I went out for a run. I was a senior in high school and I wanted to get in shape for when I went to see my boyfriend in Arkansas over spring break. I ran two miles a day for two straight weeks, I ran with my CD player in my hand (anti-skip option was ON). It took me a solid half hour to run two miles. That was when I first started to flirt with running.

I didn't pick up running again until my second year in college. The summer before my junior year, I ran a little three mile loop along the waterfront in Hoboken every other day or so...but just so I could stay in shape for the upcoming lacrosse season. I ran because I needed to up the anti on the lacrosse team. I wanted to be a starting defender.

That following season (which was my junior year), I was a starting defender. Every. Single. Game.

I even made it as far as becoming one of the captains during my senior year. But (as I'm sure is true across many sports) "captain" doesn't necessarily mean getting playing time. For reasons that I don't think I'll ever fully (and I say fully because I know some of the owness is on me) understand, my coach refused to play me. Ok, so some of you might think I'm just whining. Everyone has to put in the work to get the playing time...and I did. It's just that there were players on the team that were better than me...and there's no "I" in "team" right?

I get it, it's perfectly legitimate that I didn't get a lick of playing time that year, but I was still a captain, I was still a leader on my team, and I was still laying it all out there for the team and feeling completely unfulfilled.

That's an understatement, I hated my senior season of lacrosse.

I was harboring so much anger. There was so much pain in my heart. I gave absolutely everything I had for the lacrosse team. One hundred percent of my energy was dedicated to the team. Many Reiki practitioners believe that there must be an equal exchange of energy when practicing reiki with others. There was no "equal exchange" for me. Lacrosse literally sucked the life out of me. It took all my energy, both positive and negative.

So I started running.

It started because I just wasn't getting the exercise that I wanted from practicing/games. I mean seriously, I didn't even get to play during practice at that point, so I needed something else. I soon found out that running helped me keep a rational, level head through all that pain and anger that I felt because of sitting on the sidelines. (Ok, ok, even I think I sound like I'm just whining now...)

I started with a couple of miles at a time and by the end of my senior season, I was running about 8 or 9 miles on a regular basis, after practices and games. My coach probably would have killed me if she knew that at the time, but I'm pretty sure I would have quit the team if I didn't have somewhere else to channel all of my negative energy. Running was the release that I needed. Running kept me sane. Running made me bearable to be around, even when I was at a very low point. Running helped me adjust my attitude.

It gave me a lot of time to reflect. A good run would often help give me the clarity to realize that I could still be an important part of the team, even without being on the field. That playing time doesn't define me as a player, or more importantly, as a leader. Running was my therapy and it was probably a big reason why I didn't quit the team.

Running is still a form of therapy for me, and that's why it's so important to me to continue running. I don't have to run a marathon, I don't even have to run a mile...I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. If I do that, I know I can go anywhere and get through anything.

Marathon Monday: Training Week #17

Ready, set...taper!

We're in the home stretch for training and last week was our last big run before the marathon. This is the before:

and the after:

Yeah, that's dried salty sweat all over my face. This is my glorious post-run chocolate milk. Probably the best post-run drink ever (and if you haven't had Hartzler Dairy chocolate milk, you haven't lived!)

It was a really tough run, because we went all the way up MLK and then ran back into the heights via Shaker Lakes. A.K.A. the second half of our run was all uphill. I have had a really tough time with hill training this time around. We have done very little of it, but I basically just hate it, so I don't even want to do it. We took a 10 minute walk break on one of the big hills on the way back to shaker lakes, and I was totally okay with that. We finished, and that is what's important. Brandon and I had some company to lounge around on the deck with after our run. These guys love to soak up the warm sunlight!

They also love to lick all the sweat off of our faces after we get back from a run. Oh well, it's better than Buck eating our socks! (Brandon has lost at least three to his stomach)

With two weeks left of training, our week is going to look something like this:

Our cross training this week is going to consist of removing sod to ready the yard for our raised garden beds, rototilling the garden to get it ready for planting, painting the upstairs bedroom so we can move into it and walking the dogs, if the weather is nice. Please help us pray for dry weather...our plants want to be in the ground!!

Two more easy weeks that we can focus on keeping our bodies and minds healthy, eat clean whole foods and [hopefully] get ready to welcome the summertime!

I'll leave you with one more picture...

Don't mind the dried mud all over Buck's nose, he decided he wanted to try to dig up our Japanese Maple. Regardless, I'm in love with my dogs.

Peace, Love & Bagels,